cipd guernsey maternity survey 2015
TRANSCRIPT
CIPD Guernsey
Maternity &
Breastfeeding
Survey
March 2015
The CIPD is the professional body for HR and people development. The
not-for-profit organisation champions better work and working lives and
has been setting the benchmark for excellence in people and
organisation development for more than 100 years. It has more than
135,000 members across the world, provides thought leadership through
independent research on the world of work, and offers professional
training and accreditation for those working in HR and learning and
development.
Foreword
Locally CIPD Guernsey has
228 members across a
variety of organisations.
The branch aims to engage
not just to engage with its
members but the business
community as a whole. Part
of that engagement is
understanding what is
happening locally on key
topics. Richard Sheldon our
Policy Advisor undertook a
survey amongst our
members and has collated
this report for your reading
and to highlight key issues
to consider. Looking back it
has been a longstanding
anomaly of Guernsey’s
employment laws that there
are no express provisions
dealing with the rights of
either pregnant workers or
new mothers. Despite this
fact, many employers on the
island already recognise the
essential contribution to the
island’s economy made by
the female workforce and
make provision on a
voluntary basis.
It was announced back in
2012 that Guernsey would
finally be taking steps to
introduce legislation to
protect the rights of pregnant
women and provide a
guaranteed period of
maternity leave for new
mothers. Whilst those laws
have not yet been
introduced, Chief minister
Deputy Jonathan Le Tocq
recently stated that “it is
intended that the right to
statutory leave connected
with maternity should be in
force by early 2016, with the
benefit changes to follow in
2017.”
This undoubtedly a positive
step for working mothers in
Guernsey, but the recent
press coverage over
mothers not being allowed to
either breastfeed or express
milk at work shows that
there is still a long way to go
to change attitudes.
I would like to take this
opportunity to thank the
many people who have
responded to the survey. I
have to say, having
reviewed the results, the
overwhelming approach that
most employers take is a
positive one which is
encouraging to see.
Janine Lane
Chair – Guernsey CIPD
Executive summary
Policies used to deal with
uncertainty for employers
Without question one area
employers continue to
struggle with is how to deal
with pregnant workers. This
in part has been driven by
the absence of maternity
legislation, yet at the same
time having sex
discrimination laws in place.
This has led to many
employers being unsure how
to deal with employees who
were pregnant and a look
back over the last few years
demonstrates that this has
led a number of employers
to end up before the
Tribunal. It is perhaps a
product of this uncertainty
that has meant that 98% of
respondents to the survey
have adopted a maternity
policy.
Ante-natal time off
Another encouraging result
was the fact that nearly 71%
of employers already offer
paid time off for pregnant
workers to attend ante-natal
classes. For first time
mothers this process is very
valuable process, especially
for those who do not have
local family to support them.
What was perhaps more
surprising was that this
figure dropped to only 22%
when the question was
asked about men. As a
relatively new father myself,
I found the ante-natal
classes very useful. It will
be interesting to see what
approach the States take on
this issue when the
legislation is published.
Maternity leave v pay
It was interesting to see the
differing approaches taken
by employers to the period
of leave offered against the
period of pay. Overall the
position was that 96% of
employers offered some
form of maternity leave, with
92% offering maternity pay.
When asked what the
maximum period of leave
offered by your company
nearly 72% offered 4 months
or more leave. That figure
nearly halved when looking
at the maximum maternity
pay offered with only 37% of
employers offering 4 months
or more.
Big v small – maternity
leave
As part of the survey we
asked respondents to
confirm the number of staff
they employed, in order to
allow us to analyse the
results a little further. I think
most people would expect to
see significantly more
generous benefits being
offered by the larger
employers, and whilst
undoubtedly they are better,
the gap is not as wide as
many would think. For
example, when you compare
the maximum period of
maternity leave between
those businesses who
employ up to 50 staff with
those who employ more
what you find is that whilst
there are clearly more who
offer 7 to 12 months leave
amongst larger employers
(26.5% against 10.5%),
when you look at those who
offer 2 months or more the
figures are nearly identical
(85% against 84%). This
demonstrates that the
introduction of maternity
leave even for small
employers will have minimal
effect.
Big v small – maternity
pay
Without doubt though the
most surprising finding is
that when it comes to
maternity pay, smaller
employers are arguably
more generous than their
larger counterparts. Whilst
again there are more larger
employers at the top end of
the spectrum with 47%
offering at least 4 months
paid maternity leave,
compared with 20% of
smaller employer, if you then
look at the figures of those
who guarantee at least 2
months paid maternity leave,
the results come out as 80%
for smaller employers
against 71% of larger
employers.
Breastfeeding facilities
One challenge which has
been identified for the HR
community in Guernsey by
the survey results, is that
there is a lack of awareness
over how to handle new
mothers who wish to
breastfeed or express milk
at work. Given that nearly
54% of respondents did not
know what their company’s
position was on this issue is
revealing in itself. For those
who do allow it, the most
common route (59%) was to
allow mothers to use a spare
office. However, slightly
worryingly, 25% used the
toilets. Given the issues of
hygiene for new babies
involved this is something
that needs to be
reconsidered from a health
and safety perspective.
Richard Sheldon
Policy Advisor – Guernsey CIPD
Survey Results
For further information and guidance from CIPD Head Office, please refer to the following:-
Surveys: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/survey-reports/
Policy: http://www.cipd.co.uk/publicpolicy/policy-reports/default.aspx
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